Latihan Soal Ujian Nasional (UN) Bahasa Inggris SMA Tahun 2018 (Reading)

To: All Television Viewers.
You have been watching the television reality show Indonesia Menyanyi all month and now it is your opportunity to make a historic vote. As you know, five contestants on this show have had to leave due to lack of singing talent or difficulties living with the other contestants of the show. But this week, two of those contestants will be given the opportunity to come back to the show and keep on fighting for their dream to win a recording contract with Istana Music. This is where you come in. By sending an SMS through number on your television screen during Saturday's show, you can vote for your favorite singer that has been forced to leave the show. You may also vote by email through Internet web page at http://www.Indonesiamenyanyi.com.
Remember, the fate and dreams of these singers are in your hands. We expect that over two million people will vote. Make your vote count, too!

To the editor :
I read with great concern the report in your newspaper this morning about the plans of the Holbrook Manufacturing Company to build a factory in this city. The project has received strong support from the city council, based on their belief that Holbrook will bring a significant number of jobs to our area and boost the local economy. Apparently, they are blind to the reality. Holbrook is well-known for its innovative manufacturing methods, which are largely automated. Because of this, very little manual labor is required. Holbrook's system generally requires highly skilled technicians who would likely come here from other places to work at the factory. There will be few, if any, jobs for local citizens. What do we get in return for this? A large, unsightly building that will require the destruction of natural area and throw pollution into air and water. The city council must approve Holbrook's project before they begin construction of the factory. Holbrook's board of directors, eager to break ground on the project as early as early as next month, have urged the city council to move forward with their vote, and it will take place tomorrow night rather than two weeks from now, as originally planned. This gives even less time for council members to develop an informed opinion. I strongly urge them not to bow to the pressure of Holbrook and to vote against the proposed project.
Sincerely,
Henry Judson

SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
To avoid personal injury or properly damage, follow these safety instructions when using this product :
• Keep product away from heat sources and place it where air can circulate freely.
• Do not make any calls while standing in near water, such as batthub and swimming pool.
• Do not place furniture or other items on top of the power cord.
• Do not apply excess force when dialing. This could result in permanent damage to the buttons.
• Disconnect product from electrical outlet before cleaning. Do not use liquid cleaners and do not immerse product in water. Instead, wipe thoroughly and gently with a damp cloth.
• Avoid using product during an electrical storm.
• If repair work is needed, contact the manufacturer at the phone number listed on the front cover of this manual.

Quake survivors evacuate to neighboring village, fear tsunami

Hundreds of earthquake survivors from six villages have taken refuge at Al Munawarah Mosque in Bie village, Meurah Dua district in Pidie Jaya regency, Aceh, after an earthquake hit the area early Wednesday morning. The shelter’s coordinator, Ramli M. Nafi, said several houses were severely damaged but no fatalities had occurred in the six villages in the district. They chose to take refuge in another village for fear of a tsunami like the that occurred in 2004. “We are staying here because my village is in poor condition. Water comes out from the cracked ground,” Ramli said as quoted by kompas.com, referring a common post-earthquake phenomenon known as liquefaction.
Thus far, the evacuees have received 10 sacks of rice and five boxes of instant noodles. “Those are from Meurah Dua Police chief. We also got further aid from businesspeople and Pidie councilors,” Ramli said.
They, however, had yet to receive any medical assistance as of Wednesday evening. A resident said they needed more solid food like fresh or salted fish.
The villagers were worried about the water coming out of the cracked ground because they thought it was a sign of an oncoming tsunami. The earthquake had also led to power outages in Pidie Jaya because it disrupted the electricity supply to the regency on Wednesday.


Taken from : www.thejakartapost.com

Caribbean Islands is a chain of islands that separates the Caribbean Sea from the rest of the Atlantic Ocean. They’re like a long necklace that stretches between North and South America. Many of the islands were formed by the eruption of ancient volcanoes. Others are low-lying coral islands that gradually rose from the ocean.
The Caribbean Islands are known by several names. The earliest name used by Europeans is the Indies, later changed to the West Indies. The explorer Christopher Columbus called the islands the Indies in 1492 because he thought he was near the coast of India. Later, Spain and France called the islands the Antilles.
There are four large islands in the Caribbean Sea. They are Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Hispaniola. (Hispaniola is divided into Haiti and the Dominican Republic.) These four islands are often called the Greater Antilles. Together, they account for about 90 percent of the land area of the Caribbean Islands. The rest of the Caribbean Islands are much smaller. They are often called the Lesser Antilles. Some of these islands are no more than tiny slivers of exposed coral. You can see why pirates such as the famous Blackbeard sailed these waters. There are countless small islands to bury treasure or hide on.
The weather of the Caribbean Sea is almost always warm and sunny. Sandy beaches line the coasts of many islands. This is why millions of tourists visit the islands each year. Many tourists arrive on cruise ships.
But Life in the Caribbean Islands is not always paradise. Violent hurricanes or volcanic eruptions can make the islands a very dangerous place to be. In the summer months, hurricanes can sweep in from the Atlantic Ocean, bringing destructive winds to the islands. The Caribbean Islands are a mix of many different cultures. The first people to live there were the native Taino and Carib Indians. Most people in the Caribbean speak Spanish, but French, Dutch, and English are widely used, too. Half the people work the land as farmers. Many still work on large sugarcane or coffee plantations. Other important crops include bananas, citrus fruits, cotton, and tobacco.

Taken from : Microsoft Encarta

Like a lot of other ideas, chewing gum developed when an inventive person was trying to develop something else, In 1870, Thomas Adams was trying to create substance similar to rubber. He knew that, in the past, natives of Mexico had enjoyed chewing chicle, which was the gum of the sapodilla tree; he thought that his chicle might possibly be useful as a replacement for rubber. While he was working with it, he decided to try chewing it, just as had been done in Mexico. He enjoyed the sensation and decided that he should try selling it. Unfortunately, however, not many people bought it. He then improved the product by adding flavorings and sugar to it, and he gave out free samples until the product caught on. Though he never succeeded in his original search for a replacement for rubber, he became highly successful as a chewing gum producer.

Adapted text from : Longman Introductory Course, 2007

Cuscus
The cuscus is a large marsupial native to the Northern forest of Australia and the large, tropical island of Papua New Guinea. The cuscus is known to range in size from just 15cm to more than 60cm in length, although the average sized cuscus tends to be around 45cm (18inches). The cuscus has small ears and large eyes which aid the cuscus through it's nocturnal lifestyle.
The cuscus is an arboreal mammal, and spends its life almost exclusively in the trees. The cuscus rests in the trees during the day, sleeping in the dense foliage and awakens at night to start moving through the trees in search of food. The cuscus is an omnivorous animal but the cuscus mainly eats leaves and fruits occasionally feasting on small birds and reptiles.
The cuscus is thought to breed throughout the year rather than having a strict breeding season. The mother cuscus gives birth to between 2 and 4 baby cuscus after a gestation period of just a couple of weeks. As with all marsupials, the female cuscus has a pouch on her tummy which the new born cuscus babies crawl into and stay until they are bigger, less vulnerable and able to start feeding themselves. Typically only one of the cuscus babies will survive and emerge from the pouch after 6 or 7 months.
The cuscus has a long and very strong prehensile tail which is naked (has no fur) at the end. This allows the cuscus to be able to grip onto the tree branches more easily when the cuscus is moving from tree to tree and resting during the day. The cuscus also has long, sharp claws which help the cuscus when it is moving around in the trees. The cuscus has thick, woolly fur which can be a variety of colours including brown, tan and white.
Source : http://a-z-animals.com/animals/cuscus/

USE OF FORMALIN AND OTHER ADDITIVES IN FOOD

The use of formalin and other dangerous preservatives in food has been a serious for two reason. Firstly, formalin is not for human beings, but it is for biological specimen and experiments. Formalin in Biology is a 10% solution of formaldehyde in water which is usually used as a disinfectant or to preserve biological specimens. Thus, it is not for food preservative, it will be very dangerous to human's body.
The second reason is that there is no tight control from the government. This condition makes the people's health is really in a threat. When the control is weak and the use of formalin is spread wide all over the Indonesian regions,and these days it has really happened, the citizens' bodies will be badly contaminated with the poisons. Fish or food traders still sell their products which contain formalin and dangerous preservatives. Can you imagine that our digestive system absorbs the substance that should be for the human and animal corpses?
Considering the reasons, we can make a conclusion that the use of formalin and other preservatives is really a serious problem if it is not resolved immediately.
Adapted from : Ujian Nasional 2015

Levi Strauss was born in Buttenheim, Germany, on February 26, 1829, in the Franconian region of Bavaria, Germany, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. He was the son of Hirsch Strauss and his second wife Rebecca Strauss. At the age of 18, Strauss, his mother and two sisters traveled to the United States to join his brothers Jonas and Louis, who had begun a wholesale dry goods business in New York City called J. Strauss Brother & Co.
Levi's sister Fanny and her husband David Stern moved to St. Louis, Missouri, while Levi went to live in Louisville, Kentucky, and sold his brothers' supplies in Kentucky. In January 1853, Levi Strauss became an American citizen.
The family decided to open a West Coast branch of the family dry goods business in San Francisco, which was the commercial hub of the California Gold Rush. Levi was chosen to represent the family and he took a steamship for San Francisco, arriving in early March 1853, where he joined his sister's family. Strauss opened his dry goods wholesale business as Levi Strauss & Co. and imported fine dry goods—clothing, bedding, combs, purses, handkerchiefs—from his brothers in New York. He made tents, and later jeans. Levi lived with Fanny's growing family.
Jacob Davis, one of Strauss's customers and one of the inventors of riveted denim pants in 1871, went into business with Strauss to produce blue jeans. The two men patented the new style of work pants in 1873.
Levi Strauss died on September 26, 1902, in San Francisco at the age of 73. He never married, and left the business to his four nephews, Jacob, Sigmund, Louis, and Abraham Stern, the sons of his sister Fanny and her husband David Stern. He also left bequests to a number of charities, such as the Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum and the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum. Before his death, he had also established scholarships at the University of California Berkeley (Levi Strauss Scholarships). Levi's fortune was estimated to be around $6 million ($164 million in 2014 dollars). He was buried in Colma, California.

Adapted from : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Strauss.

Most people picture sharks as huge, powerful, frightening predators, ready at any moment to use their sharp teeth to attack unwary swimmers without provocation. There are numerous fallacies, however, in this conception of sharks.
First, there are about 350 species of shark, and not all of them are large. They range in size from the dwarf shark, which can be only 6 inches (5 feet) long and can be held in the palm of the hand, to the whale shark, which can be more than 55 feet long. A second fallacy concerns the number and type of teeth, which can vary tremendously among the different species of shark. A shark can have from one to seven sets of teeth at the same time, and some types of shark can have several hundred teeth in each jaw. It is true that the fierce and predatory species to do possess extremely sharp and brutal teeth used to rip the prey apart; many other types of shark, however, have teeth more adapted to grabbing and holding than cutting and slashing.
Finally, not all sharks are predatory animals ready to strike out human on the least whim. In fact, only 12 of the 350 species of sharks have been known to attack humans, and a shark needs to be provoked in order to attack. The types of shark that have the worst record with humans are the tiger shark, the bull shark, and the great white shark. However, for most species of shark, even some of the largest types, there are no known instances of attacks on human.

1. I ducked down, pushed between two men and ran for the river
2. The water was icy, but I stayed under until I thought my lungs would burst
3. There was shots as I ran
4. The minute I came up I took a breath and plunged down again
5. Staying submerged was only too easy with so much clothing and my heavily studded army boots

1. Wait for 45 minutes, remove it from the freezer and stir it powerfully with a spatula or whisk.
2. Prepare your ice cream mixture, then chill it over an ice bath.
3. Continue to check the mixture every 30 minutes, stirring vigorously as it’s freezing.
4. Pour your custard mixture in a deep baking dish and put in the freezer.
5. Keep checking and stirring until the ice cream is frozen.
6. Finally, transfer the ice cream to a covered storage container until ready to serve.

The two brothers and the white-bearded old man

Once upon a time there were two brothers. They decided to start travelling around the world to to search for happiness. Along the way they met a/ an (33) … man with white beard. He stopped and asked the boys where they move towards. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a handful of golden coins. "I want to help you, which one of you want these?" he asked.
Immediately, The big brother replied that he wanted them all. Then The old man hand in his other pocket again and pulled out a precious stone, shining like the sun, and asked again, "Which one of you want to have the stone?”
"I want it." The big brother answered (34) … . And finally the old man gave him the stone.
After giving him the precious stone, the old man put down the sack he was carrying on his back and said to the brothers, "Now who is going to help me bring this sack to the village?"
But the big brother said nothing. On the other hand the little brother pulled up his sleeves and bended down to help him. The old man smiled and said, "Take it with you, my boy, along with everything that is inside."
But the little brother refused and said, "No it's not mine."
" Take it, take it." said the old man. "It's my gift (35) … you."
The little brother opened the sack. And what did his eyes see? The bag was filled with precious stones. He stood up to thank the old man, but he was nowhere to be found.

Adapted from : www.worldoftales.com